Memorandum Book Of A Tenth Century Oculist: For The Use Of Modern Ophthalmologists

Item Details

Chicago, Northwestern University, 1936, Hardcover

First Edition in English, Very Good

An important English translation of the only surviving ophthalmological text from the medieval Islamic world, originally written around the 10th century drawing on Greek, Indian, and Arab sources. It was widely used throughout the Islamic world and later in Europe. 

Ali ibn Isa al-Kahhal surnamed "the oculist" (al-kahhal) was the best known and most celebrated Arab ophthalmologist of medieval Islam. He was known in medieval Europe as Jesu Occulist, a Latin translation of his name. He was the author of the influential Tadhkirat al-kahhalin, sometimes translated as Memorandum of the Oculists, the most comprehensive Arabic ophthalmology book to survive from the medieval era. The book encompassed information on treatment and classification of over one hundred different eye diseases, sorted by their anatomical location. He was the first to discover the symptoms of Vogt–Koyanagi–Harada syndrome (VKH).

Small quarto. Grey paper over boards with black cloth spine and paper title label to front cover. [xxxiv] 232pp with sixteen plates. Very good